Eight films is a somewhat improvement of last Junes sport interrupted three. Amongst them there are two films that would have been movie of the month contenders in other months along with the eventual winner that as we hit the half way point of the year is certainly on my shortlist for the year end top ten. The contenders are:

Wonder Woman: Origin story of Wonder Woman from Diana an Amazon princess through her first adventure. Perfect castling, a good story and sublime direction make for a classy comic book movie. I would go as far as to say, the best DC movie since The Dark Knight nearly a decade ago.

Gifted: Family drama about a single man raising a child maths prodigy. Not totally original but not falling into all the clichés you would expect. Its greatest strength is its performances couples with well told story. Proof if you needed it that Chris Evans has a career beyond Cap.

The Mummy:Universal launches its “Dark Universe” reimagining its classic monsters. Unfortunately, it isn’t very good. There are some good moments, Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella are good, Russell Crowe is terrible. All in all, it is a missed opportunity.

My Cousin Rachel:A young man is unsure whether to plot revenge against, or fall in love with his late cousin’s widow who may or may not have killed him. Rachel Weisz is sensational in this Daphne Du Maurier adaptation. Not perfect but extremely good.

Baby Driver:the story of a getaway driver since before he was old enough to drive sounds like a genre B picture, in a way Baby Driver is, but in the best way. Is it Edgar Wright’s best film? That is too subjective to answer, but it is certainly his most accomplished and my favourite.

Churchill:Brian Cox is perfect as Winston Churchill, Miranda Richardson is even better as Clementine Churchill. The film is both interesting and largely enjoyable but considering the subject matter sadly a little lightweight and insignificant.

The Book of Henry: With a Rotten Tomatoes rating in the low 20’s and reviews including: “Grotesquely phony and manipulative” and “a sub-Spielbergian pastiche, “The Book of Henry” is mostly a tedious”. This is unkind, the movie is flawed and predicable (other than the mid movie left turn/genre change) but is well made and well acted. it isn’t great but it doesn’t disserve the vitriol.

Transformers: The Last Knight: A total mess of a film with an ill-conceived and poorly realised plot. It looks good and the actors appear to be having fun. There is little to recommend it beyond saying it is less offensive than the last couple of instalments of the franchise.

Had it found its way to the screen in any other month, there is a good chance Wonder Woman would have achieved the accolade of movie of the month, but there is one film that is head and shoulders above the rest, the movie of the month is: